"Kinky Boots" Kicks Competition to the Curb at 2013 Tony Awards

Jun 10, 2013 11:43 AM by Alyssa

Tony Awards

Honoring the top performances in live American theater, the 2013 Tony Awards brought Broadway’s best and brightest to the stage at Radio City Music Hall this weekend. Helmed by four-time host Neil Patrick Harris, the June 9 ceremony featured a slew of performances from the talented nominees that demonstrated exactly why these casts and crews garnered so many accolades in the past year.

The Cyndi Lauper-composed musical, “Kinky Boots,” was the night’s biggest winner with six awards. A stage adaptation of a 2005 film, “Kinky Boots” won Best Musical and Best Original Score this year, along with Best Actor, Best Choreography, Best Orchestration, and Best Sound Design. Not far behind, the musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book, “Matilda,” walked away with four Tonys, including Best Book of a Musical.

The star-studded “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” featuring Sigourney Weaver and David Hyde Pierce, snagged the 2013 Best Play award. Among revivals, this year’s top winners were Stephen Schwartz’s musical “Pippin” and the classic Edward Albee play, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Aside from winning Best Revival of a Musial and Best Revival of a Play, the two productions each won Best Direction in their respective categories.

For ‘80s icon Cyndi Lauper, “Kinky Books” marked her first efforts on Broadway, and she is not alone in a recent string of popular musicians bringing their talents to the stage. Among this year’s nominees for Best Original Score was Trey Anastasio, frontman for the jam band Phish, for the music in “Hands on a Hardbody.” Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. wrote the book for this year’s “Motown: the Musical,” which features songs co-written by Gordy from the Detroit record label’s heyday. In just the past four Tony Award ceremonies, more pop musicians have received Tony nods, including Elton John for “Billy Elliott,” David Bryan (of Bon Jovi) for “Memphis,” and Glen Hansard for “Once.” With the marriage of popular music and Broadway, theater continues to expand its appeal to new audiences across the world.

Several of this year’s Tony nominees have extended their run through the year, and a handful—like “Motown: the Musical”—will be heading out on nationwide tours within the coming year. You can find seats to this year’s top productions, along with ongoing performances of past winners like “The Lion King” and “Wicked,” on sale in our extensive selection of theater tickets.